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Can't believe our medical team deemed Goody fit for this weeks press conference. #SackMisson

Apologies if this has been posted already or if we're not allowed to do so. This is one of the best speeches I've ever heard involving our club.

Yes, Oskar's Dad played 200 games in the QAFL and was a Qld State rep. He is currently the runner for the seniors at Wilston Grange (my club) and is probably fitter than most of the players. Oskar and his journey to the Dees have been a huge inspiration for my 10 year old son. Oskar has made him realise that a kid from the inner northern suburbs of Brisbane can actually make it to MFC and play AFL footy. I don't know Oskar or his Dad personally but obviously know about them through the footy club so there were definitely a tear or two watching that video and speech. Awesome.

I believe he had finally just watched the replay of the prelim.

Truly lovely moment. I lost my mum when I was 38 and have never got over it. Oskar lost his mum before he was 21. He has done it hard. All the best to him and his family. I hope he has a great career with us. Football clubs do sometimes present a window into players lives and this was one that has brought us closer to the player and his family.

Bloody Misson!

Fair dinkum - I have a tear in my eye. I’ve watched it about 8 times. And sent it to everyone I know. I think my wife’s heart is finally beating true. His Dad is a freakin legend. Baker is a new favourite.

My youngest got to play halftime little league last week Eagles vs Dees and luckily we drew the red and the blue, he's got a bit of Sam Blease/Clarrie look about him in those colours

I got some inside mail from the club: apparently it was a selection headache.

Jumped the gun again didn't you, fair dinkum people respond to any piece of media garbage they read or hear. How the hell would you know yet, if the new rules effect the way Lever plays

Sorry just been chopping the onions.. Awesome video and well done to Oskar and his family. This is the start of a journey for young Baker and can see him having a solid career for the Melbourne Football Club. His old man is a dead ringer to the great Dean Bailey.

at least misson played the reserve and didn't send goody back out ?

Go DEES!! I'm up and about after seeing us play some good footy for the first time this season hopefully 9 day break is enough for the 3 concussed guys, especially Salem. GWS's midfield is probably the best in the comp and is on form. we will need to pressure and tackle and swarm them all day. and our fwd's need to stand up and kick straight! I'm taking my son for his first game on sunday. he is pumped. auskick in the morning and then off the the G ?

I'll be absolutely filthy if we do that, we need him but we need him in his right ability. He needs at least one more week at VFL and he should show that he's ready to go.

If you think you're running a sporting competition, then umpire conflicts of interest, an MRP that favours star players, badly written rules, and woeful application of the rules are things that are key to your interests and you would be burning to get on top of them. But if you think you're running a sport-based theme park, or a sport-themed reality TV show where ratings and $$$$ are how you keep score, then all of the above are small potatoes and simply part of the drama. "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them" -- Mark Twain, probably, or Benjamin Disraeli. (Or Wilde.)

Of the 12 games played at Optus WC last year WC had Margetts or Dalglish 6 times (and a couple of times both) How there is not a conflict of interest I don't know. They are effectively being coached by these two week in week out regarding their interpretation of the rules and then get the benefit of playing under their umpiring every 2nd home game. And you can't tell me that on having these guys come to training every week that relationships between them and the WC players wouldn't form and that 'banter' regarding an upcoming opponent wouldn't occur i.e. Oliver throws the ball or Selwood ducks, better watch out for that. Even if it is totally unintentional or subconscious that will have an affect on the umps decisions....especially when you have to back up the next week and go back to training to do more work with them. Even if Melbourne wanted to do something similar it wouldn't work, Margetts pointed out that there are 32 umpires based in Melbourne. It would be extremely unlikely to get the same ump twice in one season, let alone every second week. Week to week we would get a different interpretation of the rules and the relationship between our players and the umpires wouldn't form, so the benefit of having a specific umpire officiate our games would have no positive effect. They should not be allowed to umpire West Coast games. We must have really annoyed someone at the AFL this year, not only do we get to play WC at Optus (again) but we get Margetts and Dalglish. Hatchet job. Hey if any Dee's officials are reading this, if we have to play in Perth next year can we at least request that these two umps have nothing to do with it.

Just in case anyone was still worried they would risk Lever

I was 36 and things like this always bring it front and centre. I still hear her voice every day when I have decisions to make. The small clip of Oskar on the wing about to deliver a great pass to TMac showed how he will flourish at this level. I hope he maintains form to play the rest of the season.

What a great speech from his dad, you can see how proud he is of his boy.

I was 28 Mr Leg, but at least I knew her well. my youngest sister was only 10. Some times life ain't fair.

Admin note: The 2018 Injury List thread was 24 pages and 584 posts. The 2019 Injury List thread is 32 pages and 777 post just 9 rounds into the season.

This has Gary Pert's grubby fingers all over it.

Good for pur Casey side also as they get some quality senior players back in.

Then the boys need to get the job done lest he be scarred for life.

I am totally staggered by what Wrecka45 posted. Umpires go to club's training!!! WTF? You could knock me down with the proverbial feather. Unless they were to rotate around the country and around the clubs uniformly this seems totally unacceptable to me. Fairness must be done AND be seen to be done. Seems neither is fine by the AFL.

relax guys, its just the herald sun writing rubbish like usual. MFC website states Lever, Hannan, JKH all playing at Casey this weekend https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-05-21/training-wrap-with-mitch-hannan we might have a few guys back for QB!! Hannan and Lever is exactly what we desperately need

I was 30 and my son was 2 weeks old. My two daughter's never met Mum but she's influenced them greatly ( through me I guess). I'm sure she's watched over us all this time.

RIght on in bold. No wonder we get inconsistent outcomes. Some are helped to avoid breaking the rules, some are warned and some are pinged. What a mess. And this is not the only instance of umpires selectively telling players what the rules are. There are several examples, but the most outrageous is warning a player kicking for goal after the siren to not move off his line. The umpires should keep out of it and assume the players know the rules. It is on-field coaching which is totally unacceptable since there is no way the umpires can do it evenly.

In a season full of incredibly dumb selections and player management decisions, that would be by far the dumbest. If they are sensible they wouldn't even contemplate selecting Lever until after the bye. That said, I don't think the 6-6-6 rule suits Lever and I expect him to struggle significantly this season. I'm not sure that we can play both he and Hore in the same team as neither is great when defending 1v1.

Daisy Thomas ... if he had made the comments publicly, then throw the book. But he didn't. The ump wasn't even mic'ed up. He shouldn't be abusing the umpire, so penalise him. But let the punishment fit the crime. Making it public only increases the problem for the AFL. Speaking of crimes ... the whole affair is a crystallisation of the way the AFL have lost control of the refereeing of their comp. From the AFL web site: In pleading guilty, Thomas admitted to calling Barlow a "f***ing cheat" after misunderstanding the umpire's instructions to Giants players as the officiator attempted to sort starting positions before a restart of play. The Giants had seven men in their forward 50 after a goal, before Barlow attempted to assist them in avoiding receiving a warning due to the AFL's newly imposed 6-6-6 rules. Thomas, who didn't believe umpires were allowed to do this, called to Barlow and repeatedly said: "You can't tell them that d***head … you're a f***ing cheat." It has since been confirmed by the AFL that boundary and field umpires have been instructed to assist teams in ensuring they uphold the starting position rules, and that teams were informed of this prior to the commencement of the 2019 season. WTF? "the umpire's instructions to Giants players" ... "Barlow attempted to assist them" ... "umpires have been instructed to assist team in ensuring they uphold the starting position rules " ... WHY are the umps coaching the players? They are supposed to know the rules. I can understand some leniency or a moratorium for the first 2 or 3 rounds ... but we're getting to the halfway point of the season. All they need to do is give ONE free kick ... especially if that results in a goal. Coaches will go ape and the teams will sort out 666 in no time flat. This helicopter parenting by the AFL is what is causing the problem.

I don’t agree with Lever coming straight back in off one VFL game. At least one more game required. I’d like to see Preuss back in. I’d play Tmac Smith and Preuss up forward.

Brilliant pre game speech by his Dad. Has coach written all over him.

??????????

Thank you for your insight and your insult. You know I haven't played the game because I have chosen to identify myself as a female , unlike your profile. I have been a member of Melbourne for over 40 years, following my team, and of course females were not allowed to play football when I was young. This may come as a surprise to people living in today's times. My whole point of my post was highlighting Mumford's total disinterest in playing the game and beating anyone on the scoreboard. He doesn't care about winning a game for his team. He is only interested in running through someone, anyone, to hurt them. He said so himself. Many posters on this forum have called for Preuss to be in the side and yet you pick on only certain ones to target to call them clowns and tell them they are talking drivel. Grow up. I am blocking you. So say your worst. You will be ignored by me. And spell Preuss correctly in future.

For goodness sake. Let's give some of this virulent May bashing a break. Yeah, he's to blame for our current woes and won't provide anything down the track.

I personally believe that season 2019 is over in terms of making the finals & threatening to win a premiership as the season started out. Some may believe that there is still hope but realistically it is over. For some positivity I thought we could have a thread which focuses on what people are looking forward to for the rest of 2019 & then into 2020.. I will start off with my list: 1. Hunts development as a forward 2. Marty Hores continual improvement 3. Return of Jake Lever 4. Addition of Steven May 5. Getting games into Baker 6. More games into Preuss 7. How Goodwin & the players tackle the remainder of the season, whether they wilt or stand up & respond to the poor start As for 2020 really looking forward to how our backline will look with Jetta, Lever, May, Hibberd, Hore, Salem & Petty. The potential addition of a top draft pick. Hoping for a Conor Rozee type from Port. There is a lot to look forward too, the side & list is still so young. I honestly believe this is just a small blimp on the radar towards a successful period for the Dees.

I actually cannot believe he was fined $7,500 and sent to the tribunal for that... Surely these throw away comments are made in most if not every game. I really don't like Daisy, but he really got the short straw on this one...

Yep... I cried watching this last night. What a champion, and his Dad did so well to speak so emotionally in front of so many people.

Norm Smith?

Lovely video. Oscar has a beautiful family. Do it for your mum mate. She would already be proud.

Imagine you are an umpire, going down to your local cafe or shopping centre, and being confronted by an irate West Coast or Freo supporter and copping a mouthful of abuse in your day to day life the same as you hear from the stands at the football grounds. Of course they are afraid to give decisions against the home teams, beside the fact they are open supporters of one of these teams themselves, and everyone in town knows it. This is why the AFL should seriously have impartial, non home town umpires to officiate these games. This is the LEAST they can do to fixing the perceived problem which so irks fans. It is such a simple solution and yet they do not do it. WHY? I am baffled.

I agree, our defence isn’t actually the problem right now. Keep the faith with the same guys back there this week and when he’s completely ready we will be better for it.

Daisy Thomas got it right - F‘ing cheats

Reading that I thought you had to be a troll, I've actually had a quick look through your postings and it really doesn't look like it. I've done a knee, and you are so off the mark it's laughable so instead of scalding you how about I break things down for you. Recovery isn't just the injury itself, particularly with structural injuries like knees. A closer mark would be 6-9 months is what it takes for the knee to "heal", but that doesn't take into account the conditioning your body and in particular that leg loses. The rehab isn't a constant upward trend either, you have setbacks (and I'm 99% sure Jake had one around December that required surgery) and when you have setbacks it really slows you down. Then when you do get the all clear to start loading again you can't go all guns blazing because your muscles aren't used to it, you also have to be careful that you're not overloading one leg over the other, it's not uncommon for people to do their other knee following a return. Then you have to get confidence in your body that it isn't going to break down again, whether that's the knees or the muscles surrounding it. Then he has to return to the game, get back his natural skills, and get a feel for the pace of the game. You try doing something and then returning a year later and see if you are able to jump straight in with no problems. All that is putting aside the psychological side that plays on your mind of "will it all be ok?" Bottom line is I'm just stoked for him that he got through the game unscathed and he will go next week with more confidence.

Macca you earlier agreed that “ home town decisions” occur. It is disgraceful that officials allow themselves to be influenced by the crowd. I think eliminating this bias is far more important than all the other measures you suggest. The fact that umpires are consistently succumbing to this weakness adds to the antipathy of the fans. One can’t help but think of them as weak individuals if they allow their judgment to be influenced by the noise they hear from the crowd.

That was three weeks ago, his only decent game for the year in the vfl.

A part time job which pays over $100K PA working on the big stage week in week out... I think there are many who would be up for it.... Yes umpires are human, yes they will make mistakes however these guys are highly paid professionals in a nation wide sport where it seems rules and decisions are changed weekly, actually scrap that, between games. They in reality between the three field umpires should be nailing 95%+ of decisions, all be on the same page and have the same understanding of each rule which should be adjudicated exactly the same week in week out. Sadly this is just not the case, the frustration for fans comes when for example a really harsh HTB decision is paid then the exact same umpire in the next passage of play will make a completely opposite call. How could this happen in a nation wide sport? Of course fans will cause uproar and if we don't I think the AFL will continue to just go with the flow and keep on keeping on. We will continue to have head scratching decisions and confused as hell players. Maggots, sorry.... Margetts did everything in his power on the weekend to get his beloved Eagles across the line, there is no denying that.... He made many "mistakes" in that final term and should be held accountable. What that means I am not sure, suspension? WAFL time? no clue.... The first thing that should happen is never have a home state umpiring their own team, IE WCE V MELB should have only NSW, QLD, ADEL umpires. The next thing the AFL should do is make all field umpires Full Time, throughout the week they can work on positioning for best viewing of contests to limit "mistakes", fitness training, and reviewing footage of their daily [censored] ups and learn from these mistakes just like the players do. The end result would be a fair competition, if that is what the AFL wants....

Preuss is first at the club for goal average at 2 goals per game. Yeah small sample size, but hes shown he can play forward and has kicked a couple of pearlers. Hes also physical and has mongrel. Its laughable thats hes being played at VFL level. A total waste.